Chapter 645

"Speak! What background does that Zhang grain merchant have?" the black-robed person said, voice cold as ice.

Beside him, the Duan family elder trembled, forcing a smile as he explained: "I've dealt with a few of the Zhang clan's younger relatives, and I even sent people to investigate their background."

"Two young men came from Jiangnan, saying they wanted to follow Master Zhang here to do business, and they each have a large batch of grain on hand."

"Wait, where are they from?" the black-robed person's voice grew tense.

The Duan family elder said carefully: "I checked too—it's indeed from Jiangnan, and another batch of high-quality Jiangnan rice has arrived."

"That rice is good; I've already sent people to transport it to Ying Prefecture City to be our military provisions."

"No, I'm asking you: those two clearly know a major war has broken out here—how could Jiangnan youths endure the bitter cold of the frontier? Yet they chose this moment to bring grain to Northern Goose Pass, then somehow wandered into our camp, and after two of them fled, those two actually went to Heng Prefecture—you idiots."

"Didn't you say each household selects a young member to transport grain to Ying Prefecture? Who did the Zhang family choose?"

The black-robed person's questions came one after another, his tone growing increasingly urgent, making the Duan family elder even more nervous.

He hurriedly said: "The Zhang family is that Zhang youth from Jiangnan, called Xiao Wu, a child of Master Zhang's wife's family."

"Bring that person over immediately!" the black-robed person's voice sounded with deep killing intent.

The Duan family elder hastily ordered the outside guards to relay the command, bringing the one called Second: Xiao Wu here to be bound at once.

At this moment, the dark-robed youth kept kowtowing nonstop, lying flat on the ground, his body trembling incessantly.

He didn't realize that this time he had caused such a huge disaster—how would the elder deal with him?

However, the last time the Duan clan was nearly exterminated by Xiao Yin, few descendants remained, which is why they felt so pleased.

But the elder seemed to fear the black-robed person, and he was terrified to death.

The Duan family elder pointed at the youth kneeling on the ground, glanced nervously at the black-robed person standing before him, was about to speak when suddenly the black-robed person drew the sidearm from the weapon rack behind the Duan family elder and thrust it through the dark-robed youth's chest.

The dark-robed youth let out a sudden grunt, managing only half a cry for help before collapsing, blood spilling, and fell slowly to the ground.

A strong smell of blood surged instantly, spreading to the Duan family elder's feet; he instinctively stepped back and dared not speak.

The black-robed person coldly said: "What's the point of keeping such trash?"

The Duan family elder knelt before the black-robed person, not daring to speak further.

His body was already inconvenient for movement, and kneeling there made him feel as if he were about to faint.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside. The guards returned to report, and five or six small soldiers who had previously escorted laborers were kneeling in the courtyard.

Those few soldiers never expected to see such a high-ranking figure of the Duan family.

Actually, for them it wasn't good news; just moments ago on the road they were bumped into by a Duan family noble youth, and their unit lost two men in an instant.

They hadn't expected to be found so soon; they had thought they'd merely lost two ordinary people and hadn't given it a second thought.

Not long after the brothers had gathered to gamble, someone came looking for them, asking precisely about the missing person.

Now several of them were dazed; before they could react, they were brought here, seeing the situation turn bad, they all knelt in the courtyard at once.

Through a gap in the screen, they saw the Duan family elder kneeling before the black-robed person, and they were badly frightened.

The Duan family elder already held great prestige among them, yet now he too knelt before the black-robed person, not knowing who this person was, and he couldn't think of anything else: "That Xiao Wu just ran away!"

"What? He ran?" the Duan family elder scrambled up from the ground, trembling as he took a few steps toward the door, so angry a mouthful of old blood almost spurted out—where had things gone wrong? How could problems keep popping up one after another?

"Why aren't you going to look for him? Drag those kneeling outside out and chop them up."

Instantly, wails like ghosts howling and wolves wailing erupted from the courtyard, the smell of blood grew stronger, and a more intense aura of death spread.

The Duan family elder trembled as he looked toward the black-robed person standing by the window gazing at the night sky, and his heart suddenly began to race.

Could it be that the fortune of the eight great families has run its course?

Suddenly the black-robed person clenched his teeth and gave a cold smile: "What audacity!"

"I think I know who that Xiao Wu is—send the order: turn Ying Prefecture City upside down."

"Elder! Elder!" another guard ran over from outside, a few steps away.

At this moment the Duan family elder was nearly scared mad—how had everything happened all at once?

"What else? Why panic?" the Duan family elder forced himself to stay calm, yet he couldn't suppress the tremor in his voice.

The few guards reporting now had voices choked with sobs; they threw themselves down with a thud, kneeling before the Duan family elder: "It's terrible, it's terrible. The brothers in the northern barracks have all gone mad tonight, hacking at each other like they're possessed or ate something wrong! Let's go, hurry and see."

This time the Duan family elder couldn't even utter a curse, only feeling waves of bitterness in his mouth; the northern barracks, that was the strongest army the Duan family had trained, the Azure Dragon Army meant to oppose Xiao Yin.

At this point Xiao Yin's troops were already at the city walls, the great war reignited—who would have thought such a thing would happen?

If it were just one or two who had taken bad medicine and gone mad, that could be explained.

After all, the war had been going on for over half a year, both sides were tense, and some out-of-the-ordinary behavior would be understandable—but the entire barracks were in this state.

He couldn't utter a word, while the black-robed person suddenly turned and strode toward the Duan family elder.

"Tell me, what's the latest situation with the northern barracks?"

"What are they using?"

At this moment the black-robed person gripped his sword tightly, blood still dripping from the blade; he pressed the sword tip against the Duan family elder's eyes, wishing to pierce him through, making it hard for the elder to speak at all.

"Recently everything in the north has been normal, nothing special."

Suddenly the Duan family elder thought of something and gasped.

"Wasn't it earlier that we obtained a batch of grain and flour from the grain merchant, a batch of military provisions that included grain used by the Zhang family, which looks like the fine Jiangnan rice?"

"This batch of grain shows no sign of poison."

The black-robed person said in a hoarse voice: "Someone, bring the northern military provisions cooked and sent here, send a person over—I want to investigate to the bottom. Also examine the northern barracks, the well water of the auditorium, the weapons, and even the clothing they wear."

A flash of ruthlessness crossed the black-robed person's eyes; those outside naturally understood what that meant.